


five accidental meetings between us + one that isn't

by lizalilac



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Crushes, Drinking Games, Eunwoo is popular, Kissing, M/M, Moonbin is a nerd, Parties, Pining, Slow Burn, but both tropes are kind of mentioned and not a very big part of it, kind of idk if it can be considered that, the last two pairings are background and kind of subtle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 08:11:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14351457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizalilac/pseuds/lizalilac
Summary: Moonbin is a slight nerd. Eunwoo is the most popular guy in school on his first day. What does one expect to happen when they accidentally meet five times? Well, it’s certainly not what Moonbin expected anyways.Either way, it’s easily the best thing that could have ever happened to him.





	five accidental meetings between us + one that isn't

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaya_roha97](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaya_roha97/gifts).



 

* * *

**1 (Monday)**

* * *

 

_Front step, to the right. Back step, to the left._

_“I didn’t know you could dance.”_

_“I don’t,” Moonbin says. “I’m just copying what you’re doing.”_

_He wishes they could stay like this forever. In blissful ignorance, unsure of everything else but this. Unsure of everything else but the two of them. Unsure of everything else but their rhythmic dance._

_Front step, to the right. Back step, to the left._

_Now they’re going in a circle, with basic box movements. Nothing too fancy, but Moonbin still has some difficulty keeping up. Eunwoo notices, but doesn’t pay attention. Just slows down slightly so Moonbin has time to follow._

_The ballroom is ornately decorated, but they don’t pay attention to that. They’re too busy looking into each other’s eyes, trying to find something that isn’t there._

_Silence. The music stops. The dancing stops._

_The party is dismissed. Everyone goes home. Everyone but them. They stay and dance._

_Front step, to the right. Back step, to the left._

_They stop, still looking into each other’s eyes. They inch closer. Lips brush, eyes close._

_Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ri-_

 

Moonbin wakes up. He stares at the ceiling, thinking about his dream. That was Eunwoo, wasn’t it? The details were hazy, but he remembers a ballroom and a dance. And Eunwoo.

He sighs deeply, and remembers that he has school today. He doesn’t feel like getting up, but he does anyways. He has to get up.

He goes through the usual morning routine. Bathroom, Breakfast, Clothing, Shoes. He picks up his bag, slings it over his shoulder and he’s out the door. He locks up, and walks five steps away from home until he notices that his surroundings are particularly blurry.

Oh, right. He forgot his glasses. Again.

He runs back those five steps, unlocks the door and quickly grabs his glasses from his bedside table. He puts them on, checks himself in the mirror again and he’s out the door again, locking up and walking to school.

He realizes he has time to spare, so he stops at the nearby café to get a take-away cup of coffee, and continues walking, watching other people making their way.

He sees Eunwoo on the way to school, a few feet in front of him, walking at a brisk pace. Memories of the dream come back to him, but he shoves it to the back of his thoughts.

He isn’t exactly close to Eunwoo. Moonbin would bet that he doesn’t even know his name, let alone who he is. Moonbin just admires him from a distance. He finds it ridiculous how quickly the guy got fans at the school. The guy even got a fanclub during the first week, now it’s the third. More girls join that club every day.

But then again, he also sees why Eunwoo is so popular. He is incredibly kind, super smart and looks like an angel. Picture perfect, on the inside and on the outside.

Truth be told, Moonbin wishes that he could be Eunwoo’s friend. He wants to know random stuff about him. He wants to know his favourite food. He wants to know what colour he likes the most. He wants to know what movies he likes to watch over lazy weekends. He wants to know if he likes to read books.

He watches Sanha run up to Eunwoo and jump onto his shoulders, laughing. Eunwoo barely has time to latch onto Sanha’s legs before he falls. Eunwoo scolds Sanha for scaring him like that. Sanha doesn’t acknowledge it.

Moonbin smiles at them. He wants to be able to do things like that with him, without it being weird.

He wants, but he doesn’t do. He wants, but he doesn’t at the same time.

He simply admires from afar.

 

 

Moonbin sets aside his bag full of unnecessary notebooks into his locker, grabbing what he needs out of it for his current period. He looks over his list of classes and sighs, relieved. He doesn’t have Biology today. That’s the only class he has with Eunwoo, and the god-forsaken seating arrangement calls for both of them to sit together.

Even with that going on, he still hasn’t bothered talking to Eunwoo. The only thing that happened so far between them is Eunwoo asking for a pencil, and Moonbin fumbling to look for one in his pencil case. He still hopes Eunwoo didn’t notice his hands shaking.

Mechanically stepping back to close his locker, he doesn’t notice someone walk right into him due to his thoughts. He hears things fall down, some his and some from the other person.

He turns around and apologizes frantically, trying not to seem like he visibly froze once he realized that it was Eunwoo he bumped into.

Fuck.

He bends down, immediately picking up Eunwoo’s things and giving them to him, grabbing his things and locking his locker faster than he’s ever done before, and walking away.

He wants to be his friend, but he also doesn’t want have any contact with him.

He doesn’t hear Eunwoo thanking him.

 

 

“-And it’s the best thing ever, have you heard the guy’s vocals? I’d say he was born singing fucking Bohemian Rhapsody or some shit instead of crying and screaming- hey Bin, you even listening?”

Moonbin hadn’t noticed himself zoning out, but he couldn’t help it. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and looked up at Minhyuk.

“Sorry, Rock. Stuff on my mind. What were you talking about again? Whose vocals?”

“Never mind that,” Minhyuk starts, “you looked incredibly zoned out there. Just what were you thinking about so intensely that you had such an out of body experience?”

Moonbin snorts, rolling his eyes for dramatic effect. “Nothing, I promise. Seriously, what were you talking about?”

“Come on, Moonbin.” Minhyuk sighs, trying to smother his laughter by rubbing his face. “Stop changing the subject. Tell me, who’s on your mind?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

Minhyuk just stared at him blankly until Moonbin just groaned.

“No one.”

“Liar.”

“Truther.”

“Just tell me.”

“No.”

Minhyuk continued staring at him with that blank look. He doesn’t know if it creeps him out or pisses him off more.

“Fine, fine. So stubborn. You know Eunwoo, in my year, the one who all the girls are absolutely insane about?”

“Yeah…? Wait, don’t tell me you’ve got a crush on him or something.” He bites his lip to choke down the laughter, only to piss Moonbin off more.

“Crush? As if,” he scoffs. “It’s just- This morning, I accidentally bumped into him from behind while I was going to close my locker, and I’m thinking about how terribly awkward I looked while picking up his things. He probably thinks I’m weird now.”

Minhyuk finally barks a laugh.

“That’s what you’ve been thinking about this entire time?”

He feels someone sit down next to him, and he doesn’t need to look to see that it’s MJ.

“What happened while I was gone, loser number one and two?” He asks, holding out two water bottles for both of them. Minhyuk takes one, still trying to stop laughing.

“Dork spaced out, I bugged him until he told me why. Apparently he bumped into that Eunwoo guy from his year, and had to pick up some books in front of him, and now he’s worried that he looked awkward doing that. And he’s also claiming he doesn’t have a crush on him, I don’t believe him.”

MJ snorts and pats Moonbin’s shoulder, also trying not to laugh.

“Sorry Moonbin, but I think you do have a thing for him if you’re worrying about how you looked while picking up a few things off of the floor.”

Moonbin groans loudly and mentally cursed whatever cursed him today.

 

 

The final bell rings, and he is the first one out the door. He sighs, going to his locker and packing up, then begins making his way back home, observing things on his way. Listening to birds’ chirping, watching cars pass by, watching groups of students walking together and laughing.

He thinks about everything that happened today. One of the more eventful days over the course of the school year so far, but he gets the feeling that it will get worse from now on.

He unlocks his apartment’s door, and enters. He runs into his room, drops his bag and collapses on his bed, groaning. He only hopes that tomorrow won’t be so much like today.

He will do his homework later, he thinks. He needs a nap right now. He sets an alarm so he doesn’t oversleep, and slips seamlessly into a dreamless void.

 

 

He dreams of nothing but white and black and grey and everything in between. Everything except for Eunwoo.

He wakes up when the sky is pink and purple.

He studies when the sky is darker than his dreams.

He reenters the dreamless void when the moon is right above.

 

* * *

  **2 (Tuesday)**

* * *

 

Moonbin wakes up on a hard surface with his head throbbing. He groans and clutches his head. He didn’t need to force his eyes open to realize that he most likely fell off of his bed.

If he wasn’t braindead yesterday, he certainly is now. What even was the time? Did he wake up earlier than his alarm clo-

As if the alarm clock was sentient, it started ringing at that moment. Dammit, he at least hoped he would have 10 minutes to mourn his concussion.

He blindly reached up and smacked his alarm clock 4 times in different places before it shut off. He could’ve gotten up, sat on his bed and turned it off in a second like any normal human being would do, but he obviously wasn’t normal so fuck it.

Still grumbling, he made his way to complete his usual routine. Bathroom, Breakfast, Clothing, Shoes, Glasses. He added that to his mental checklist in order to prevent yesterday’s blunder from happening a second time. He took his bag and he was out the door.

 

 

“Moonbin, Moonbin, Moonbin, Binnie, Binnie, Binnie, Bin-“

The man in question shoved his hand into MJ’s face to shut him up, without looking up from his staring contest with the table. His nose could be flatter than Voldemort’s by now.

Minhyuk snorted at the two. “What are you mourning on this lovely Tuesday morning, Bin?”

“My concussion.”

“Your… concussion?”

“I had a rather rude awakening today. From the floor.”

He could hear MJ laughing at his misfortune but he didn’t care much. He was too busy holding a funeral for his brain via flattening his face. It’s a very well-known ritual. It felt like 10 minutes passed, but they stopped laughing.

“Anyways,” Minhyuk started, “It’s study hall, isn’t it? Are you just going to sit here or are you going to hang with us and some other people?”

Moonbin froze like a deer in headlights, raising his head from the table for the first time since he started talking to the two.

“Other people? You’re trying to send me off to my death?”

“Nope, I just want you to live. Your life is just books and sometimes not even that; list 5 people that are your friends that aren’t me, MJ-hyung or your odd craving for death, and maybe including that house-plant you have in your room,” Minhyuk argued.

He didn’t say anything, just stared at Minhyuk and blinked slowly. He didn’t see MJ when he raised his head, but he assumed he was behind him, since there seems to be some extra weight on his shoulders. He sighed, and placed his head not-so-delicately back onto the table. His nose and forehead are going to be red and aching when he goes to socialize with these ‘people’ that were mentioned, but he didn’t care much.

“You still didn’t convince me. Who are these people?” He asked, after realizing that he didn’t even know who he was going to meet.

“Eunwoo, Jinjin and Sanha,” MJ answered right into his ear, causing him to flinch visibly.

“Fuck,” why them, of all people? He groaned so loudly that he probably got some weird looks from other people. “You really do want to kill me.”

Minhyuk just laughed at him, the demon. “Come on, seriously. I promise it won’t be that bad, they’re pretty fun to be around!”

“Ugh.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“Fuck off.”

MJ didn’t say anything, just snorted and-before he knew it-he was lifted off of his chair and hauled up onto his feet.

“Jesus- Fine, okay, I’m getting up.”

“That’s more like it!” MJ cheered.

This is the first time in his life that he wanted to die so intensely. Any malevolent creatures in this room, Moonbin wants you to murder him before he has to experience this nightmare. Actually, he begs you. Please do look to it in the next 2 minutes.

 

 

The three of them walked together to the place that they were supposed to meet up with the others, Moonbin following behind them. He still doesn’t know why he agreed to this in the first place, he could’ve sat back down when MJ forced him up.

He assumed it was because he knew MJ wouldn’t leave him alone otherwise. He didn’t secretly want to get closer to Eunwoo. No, he didn’t want to.

“Hey!”

MJ grins and waves back at Jinwoo, abandoning Minhyuk and Moonbin to start running towards him and sat down right next to him on the grassy area. The remaining two slowly made their way to the group of three-now four-and sat down as well. Moonbin pretended not to notice Eunwoo giving him a slightly lengthy glance.

All six of them eased into conversation and started talking with each other. Well, with the exception of Moonbin. He only tried his best to seem as if he was not there. He observed the other’s conversations. Minhyuk was in a conversation with Sanha, talking about dance routines and how to improve dance technique. Jinwoo, Eunwoo and MJ were now in a heated debate about… cereal?

He shook his head, trying to resist laughing at their oddly serious argument about whether milk goes first or last. Personally, he thought it was weird that anyone would even consider putting the cereal last. You wouldn’t get as much cereal if you put milk first, even if the cereal stays crunchy that way-

“Hey, we’re all fading into some kind of useless discussion, Binnie is probably questioning your guys’ sanity right now, who has an argument over cereal in the first place? You and Jinwoo-hyung should be studying right now by the way, MJ-hyung,” Minhyuk interrupted.

“Shit, you’re right,” Jinwoo panicked. “Up, up, get up MJ-hyung. We’re so utterly fucked. It’s hopeless if we need to have Minhyuk remind us.”

Moonbin snorted at that remark. He watched the two hurriedly leave to go to the library. There’s about half an hour left of study hall, so he hopes that they manage to actually do something instead of procrastinating.

Now Sanha, Minhyuk, Moonbin and Eunwoo were left in the circle. They all started talking about something, which Moonbin wasn’t keeping track of. He was currently looking up at the sky, watching an airplane’s trail. It started to look like some kind of humongous white worm. He then realized how weird that thought was, and questioned whether he really has a concussion or not.

Actually, he’d be coughing up both of his lungs if he did, so never mind.

“Moonbin-hyung?”

He regained his consciousness and looked to Sanha, raising an eyebrow as if prompting him to ask a question.

“Well,” Sanha started, “I wanted Minhyuk to teach me a bit of dance while we’re still free. Can you stay with Eunwoo and keep him company? I know he gets lonely.”

Eunwoo leaned over and smacked Sanha on the arm, laughing. “Hey, I’m older than you.”

Moonbin was trying not to seem like a deer in headlights in front of the others. He has to stay with Eunwoo? Alone? It’s gotta end up terribly, he just knows it.

He still agrees. For some reason completely unknown to him, he agrees and watches as the both of them leave as well and it’s only him and Eunwoo. Fuck, what is he going to do? He can’t just leave, he already agreed to it. Ugh.

But now that he thinks about it, Eunwoo can’t be that bad. He didn’t talk much the entire time that all six of them were together, and he didn’t really act weird regarding _him_ except for glancing at him once or twice. So why is he so damn scared of what Eunwoo thinks about him?

He sighs deeply, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. He feels someone’s gaze on him, but he doesn’t open his eyes even then. He hears some shuffling, and someone moving to sit closer to him. Oh god no wait Eunwoo is the only person that’s slightly close to him why is he getting closer-

“Hey, you look kind of disturbed by something. Do you want me to go?” Eunwoo asks, and Moonbin suddenly feels panic.

“I never said that,” he blurted. It took him a second to realize how intensely he said it, and how he suddenly snapped his head to look at Eunwoo. He had to look away to hide his furious blush when Eunwoo started laughing. Did he say that Minhyuk and MJ are going to be the death of him yesterday? Never mind, Eunwoo will be. His laugh is a whole damn harmonious choir and it’s contagious to the point where Moonbin can’t resist cracking a small smile.

“I’m- Oh my god,” Eunwoo started, trying to correct himself. “I’m so sorry for laughing, it’s just that the look on your face was priceless. So I shouldn’t go, then?”

Moonbin cleared his throat so as to not make that mistake again, and mumbled a small “No.”

“Not very talkative, I’m guessing?”

“No,” he agrees, coming up with a sudden idea. He feels like he’s going to shit his pants now that he’s actually going to say it. “Not around new people, especially not cute new people.”

Eunwoo blinks twice until it registers and he looks down with an embarrassed smile and a blush that might rival the one Moonbin had a moment ago. “Oh.”

Now it’s Moonbin’s turn to laugh. He really does wonder why he was so scared to talk to Eunwoo. It’s less difficult than he thought.

“Ah, um,” Eunwoo cleared his throat, “That caught me off guard. But thank you, it’s really nice to hear that from you especially… Moonbin, is it?”

“Yes,” Moonbin started, thinking he could ask Eunwoo to hang out more often. “Um, I-”

The bell started ringing loudly, interrupting him just as he mustered up the courage. Damn it all. He sighed, getting up from the floor and brushing off any grass that might’ve gotten stuck to his uniform pants and waved goodbye to Eunwoo, losing his courage and walking away.

“Ah, wait Moonbin!”

He stopped abruptly, turning around to see what Eunwoo wanted to say. What could it be now?

Wait, off-topic, but now that Eunwoo is standing and Moonbin’s properly looking at him, he’s freakishly tall. So much so that he has to look up to see his eyes, instead of his collarbones.

“Can you give me your phone for a second, unlocked?” He asked, prompting Moonbin to raise an eyebrow.

“Uh, why?”

“I wanted to input my number into your cell, so we can talk later.” Eunwoo stopped for a moment silently. “Only- only if that’s fine with you, of course! I wouldn’t want to force you-”

Moonbin snorted, taking out his phone and unlocking it, holding it out to Eunwoo. “It’s fine, don’t worry, you’re not forcing me at all.”

Eunwoo nodded with a slight smile and punched in his number quickly, giving his phone back.

“Give me a call sometime when you’re not busy, okay?”

“Sure, I’ll see to it as soon as possible.” Moonbin replied, and made his way back to class with a somewhat awkward speed walk.

He’s going to have to thank Minhyuk and MJ later, even if they are the most ridiculous people they know. If it weren’t for them, he wouldn’t have realized that he has literally nothing to be intimidated by.

Sighing, he looked down at the new number on his phone, thinking about what he could rename it instead of “Eunwoo.” He always has weird names for his contacts, who’s boring enough to name their contacts with their actual names?

After a bit of thinking, he muffled a laugh with the back of his hand at the idea that just came to him. Eunwoo’s pretty freakishly tall, isn’t he? Oh, this is perfect.

 

 

Contact added: **skyscraper**

**Trash Bin™:** hey hey eunwoo it’s bin

 **Trash Bin™:** u gave me ur number today

 **skyscraper:** Hi !! You texted back fast

 **Trash Bin™:** couldn’t wait lol sorry if it was too fast

 **skyscraper:** No, don’t worry . I did say you can text as soon as possible right ?

 **Trash Bin™:** okok true wow i forgot somehow

 **skyscraper:** Also can I mention your username really quick ? It’s hilarious

 **Trash Bin™:** thanks Minhyuk gave the idea and I agreed

 **skyscraper:** Wow how rude Minhyuk

 **skyscraper:** Speaking of him, I haven’t seen him ever since study hall . Normally I see him going out the gates at the same time as me ??

 **Trash Bin™:** oh ya right i did get a text from him telling me he went home early

 **Trash Bin™:** apparently he felt ill

 **skyscraper:** Oh okay

 **skyscraper:** Wait uh I need to go right now , is that fine ?

 **Trash Bin™:** omg lol of course you don’t need to ask??

 **skyscraper:** Oh

 **skyscraper:** Okay haha I didn’t know if you’d be fine with me suddenly leaving or not

 **Trash Bin™:** wow i’d be a terrible friend if I got mad over u needing to leave lololol

 **skyscraper:** Pffft true

 **skyscraper:** Anyways I might come back later but for now see you !

 **Trash Bin™:** see you !!

 

 

Moonbin tried to stay awake long enough to talk to Eunwoo one more time before he goes to bed, but sleep took over and his phone fell out of his hand onto the bedsheets, followed by his head and consciousness.

 

* * *

  **3 (Wednesday)**

* * *

 

He woke up to his alarm blaring, once again, and turned it off. Huh, this is the first day this week that he’s waking up normally, without any dreams or concussions.

He assumes that means that today will be a little bit better on him, and maybe even lucky. He gets out of bed calmly, going through his routine once again. Bathroom, Breakfast, Clothing, Shoes, Glasses.

Except, he forgets that he had a bag and almost went out the door without it. Cursing, he runs back to his bedroom and throws it onto his shoulder, and moves quickly out of the door to lock it and leave.

He checks his phone on the way to school, looking through all notifications he received overnight. He notices one notification in particular, a message from Eunwoo. He stops and stares at a wall for a moment, remembering how he fell asleep earlier than he should’ve instead of waiting for Eunwoo a bit longer. He groaned at himself, and opened the message, hoping his lack of reply didn’t upset Eunwoo too much.

 

 

 **skyscraper:** Hi !! I hope I didn’t take too long ,,,

 **skyscraper:** Are you asleep ?

 **skyscraper:** In that case, let's talk tomorrow. Goodnight Binnie ♡ ♡

** TODAY ** **_(6:34 AM)_**

 **skyscraper:** Good morning Binnie !! Did you sleep well ?

 **skyscraper:** See you at school ^^

 

 

Moonbin has to take a moment to stop grinning like a fool at his phone. He stops walking and leans against a wall, screenshotting the chat and sending it to the chat with Minhyuk and MJ.

 

 **Trash Bin™:** Screenshot sent.

 **Trash Bin™:** look at this shit??? god idk how i got this lucky but

 **Trash Bin™:** when i said I didn’t have a thing for him i was fuckin lying

 **Trash Bin™:** he fucking called me binnie dskhgldsf pLEASE

 **Soft Rock:** To Do List: get a man who could send me good morning and good night texts every day

 **Trash Bin™:** i hope sanha lives up to that

 **Soft Rock:** wait what

 **Soft Rock:** whha tdo you m ean moon bni

 **Happy Virus:** oMG YOU GUYS ARE IN LOVE OFFICIALLY IN LOVE MOONBIN AND EUNWOO

 **Trash Bin™:** dsjklghds mj stfu

 **Trash Bin™:** n what did u say rocky?? i didn’t hear u

 **Soft Rock:** shut up loser u don’t need to hear me u see my texts

 **Soft Rock:** I said what tf do you mean

 **Happy Virus:** im dying moonbin you should see the fond as fuck smile on your face rn

 **Happy Virus:** i didn’t know u could be this soft edgelord

 

 

Moonbin couldn’t resist snorting at MJ’s comment until he realized one thing was off.

 

 

 **Trash Bin™:** how the fuck do you know im smiling???

 **Happy Virus:** look behind you

 

 

He did so, and soon realized it was a mistake. As soon as his face came in contact with a finger waiting for him to turn around. He rubbed his nose, trying to regain his composure and not scowl at MJ’s cackling.

 

 

 **Trash Bin™:** i fucking hate you

 **Trash Bin™:** idk why im texting u this instead of saying it but fuck you

 **Happy Virus:** HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAAAA

 **Trash Bin™:** my nose wants to ask u to fuck off too

 **Soft Rock:** the fuck is wrong with you two omg

 **Trash Bin™:** he did the stupid trick where he had his fingers on both sides of my face so when I turn around my nose smacks into it

 **Trash Bin™:** u bitch

 **Soft Rock:** lol he did that to me once

 **Soft Rock:** I kneed him in the stomach accidentally

 **Happy Virus:** stomach?? accidentally??? that was my dick n u did it on purpose

 **Trash Bin™:** fsdnfkshdglskhdfk aHAHAHA MJ

 

 

Eventually among all the madness, they made it to class. When Moonbin entered the classroom, he realized that today he had class with Eunwoo. Now, he was giddy instead of waiting for him to walk through the door and sit down next to him.

But he never did, not even when the Biology professor started another lecture about something he already knew so well he could recite it off of the top of his head.

Moonbin frowned. Eunwoo wasn’t usually this late, so what happened? Is he sick? Did anything happen to him while he was walking to school? Kidnapped? Fainted? Car cr-

No, no, he doubts it. He worries too much, that couldn’t have happened.

He tries to listen to the lecture instead to distract him from his thoughts. He’s still kind of worried, so he takes out his phone quietly and shoots Eunwoo a quick message to ease his suspicions.

 

 

 **Trash Bin™:** hey eunwoo, you’re absent today? did anything happen?

 

 

He puts it back in his pocket, hoping that he gets a reply by the end of class. He waits patiently, listening to the professor and observing the other students. Everyone is either taking notes, or sleeping, or staring dreamily at some other student.

He’s glad that no one really bothers him about not taking notes in class. He only ever takes notes if it’s a subject he doesn’t know much about, but Biology is a subject he excels in regardless of his Straight A streak or not. He’s always been interested in it, and therefore knows mostly everything due to his curiosity when he was younger, so no one really questions it anymore. Not even the professor.

His reminiscing is interrupted by the bell ringing. He picks up his things quickly, and speed-walks out of the door towards his locker. Putting his stuff inside, he takes out his phone, expecting a response from Eunwoo.

Nothing. He raises an eyebrow, concerned. It’s been 30 minutes since he sent the message, he assumed that Eunwoo would’ve responded by now.

He sighs heavily, deciding to forget about it for now. Eunwoo’s going to be fine, he’s got to be fine. He doesn’t seem like the type of person to let things easily happen to him.

With that thought, he took his lunch and went to the usual spot in the courtyard to join Minhyuk and MJ.

 

 

Nothing eventful happened all day, he thought, as the final bell rang and everyone made their way out of the door at varying speeds. Moonbin got out quickly as usual, going to his locker, taking his phone out of his bag to check it for messages and finding no response still. He sighed, and checked his calendar to see if any type of appointments are due this week.

He had a health check-up at the hospital… today at 4? Groaning, he looks at the clock and realizes that he has to go now or he’d be late. Making his way towards the subway, he took out his earphones and put his playlist on shuffle before pocketing his phone, humming the tune.

Moonbin decided to observe people as he passed by. New couples talking together cheerfully while holding hands, a mother trying to calm her crying baby, and a group of kids playing with a football, which was coming closer at an alarmingly fast pace.

He ducked his head in time for it to bounce off of the wall and onto the ground beside him. Kneeling down, he picked it up and threw it back to the kids, who caught it. They apologized for almost hitting him, but he just smiled and said it was okay.

He slowly inhaled, letting out a deep sigh. Seeing those kids made him think about what he was like when he was younger. Very excitable, especially while playing with his friends, so he had the tendency to get hurt a lot.

He still has a vivid memory of spraining his wrist while playing tag with his friends Chanwoo and Eun-bi. He smiled fondly to himself, they were so worried that he’d injured himself; when it turned out to be nothing but a small sprain and a bit of him being dramatic, they got mad at him.

When he came back to the real world from his trip down memory lane, he noticed he was only a little bit farther from the subway. He ran the rest of the distance, and descended down the stairs into the underground. He quickly bought a ticket, rushed through the ticket check and had just barely made it onto a subway carriage when the doors closed and it started moving.

He sat down in a seat with a heavy sigh, slightly exhausted from all the trekking. The carriage was fairly empty, which he was thankful for. Less people means less noise, which means he doesn’t get a major headache again. It always seems to happen on public transport, for some reason.

He takes his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it and locking it again, staring at the black screen. He fiddles with it, spacing off and staring at a part of the floor blankly out of boredom.

_Bzz, bzz_

He nearly jumped when his phone suddenly buzzed. He didn’t really expect a text message. He unlocked his phone, hoping that he finally got a reply from Eunwoo.

He received a text from Minhyuk, but none from Eunwoo. He frowned, now really starting to get concerned. He had all day to give a reply, what happened? It could just be that he lost his phone or something, but that wouldn’t explain his absence at school today.

Sighing, he just decided that he’d see more about the Eunwoo situation tomorrow, if he doesn’t reply today. He opened the text, wondering what on earth Minhyuk could be texting him about.

 

 

 **Soft Rock:** hey you good? you seemed out of it during lunch tbh

 **Trash Bin™:** yeah, im okay. just worried bc eunwoo didnt come to school today, he didn’t respond to any of my text messages, and idk what to do

 **Soft Rock:** yikes that’s why you’ve been off

 **Soft Rock:** though I doubt anything bad happened to him, don’t worry. you’ll see him tomorrow, and he’ll be fine.

 **Trash Bin™:** i hope so…

 **Trash Bin™:** thanks rock, knew i could count on you to make me feel better

 **Soft Rock:** anytime dude

 

 

Moonbin smiled, locking his phone and leaning back against the seat, letting his head fall onto the wall. He’s glad he has such good friends. Minhyuk and MJ both always seem to know what to say. Shame that he himself is lacking in the eloquence department.

He hears the announcement for his stop and stands up, pocketing his phone again and moving to stand in front of the door, latching onto one of the poles nearby for support. He then grimaces, thinking about just how many germs are on that pole, and resorts to awkwardly hugging it with his arm.

The doors open, and he rushes out, hurrying out of the underground and climbing up the stairs, back onto the ground where the sun feels just a bit hotter than when he went under. The hospital isn’t too far away, so he walks the rest of the distance.

Pushing open the doors of the hospital, he walks in and turns a left to where the elevators are, familiar with the location by muscle memory since he’s gone so many times. Fourth floor, left turn, straight, room on the left. He enters the waiting room, approaching the main desk.

“Hello,” he starts, putting his appointment paper onto the desk to show to the lady. “I have an appointment today with Dr. Mark Evans, is there anyone in his room right now?”

She takes the appointment paper, looks it over for a second and nods. “Right now, he is busy with a client. He has a few more after that, and then it’s your turn. You came a little early, so I’ll just call your name when he’s freed up, okay?”

He replies with an ‘okay’ and goes to sit down somewhere, looking for free seats. He nearly gasps out loud when he sees Eunwoo, someone who he never really expected to see in a hospital waiting room. Eunwoo hasn’t really noticed that he’s there, he seems preoccupied on fiddling with something in his hands.

Bin walks over to Eunwoo and sits down next to him, causing him to look up from what he was messing with, which turned out to be his keys, and let out a little ‘oh’ out of surprise.

“Hey Eunwoo, what are you doing here?” He tries not to come off as though he was worrying all day about him.

“Hey Bin,” he replies with a small smile that somehow manages to say ‘I’m glad you’re here’. “I had to come with my mother since she felt ill this morning. She didn’t want to come to the hospital, she only decided to go when she started throwing up an hour ago. That’s why I wasn’t at school today, I stayed at home to help her.”

Moonbin sighs in relief when he hears that. “I was worrying about you for nothing. But do you know how your mom is doing now?”

“Ah, mom is okay, but,” he frowns, “Why were you worried about me?”

Bin fixed him with a blank stare and tried not to laugh as it was entirely obvious why. “Well, you weren’t in class, which you normally always were, and you didn’t reply to any of my texts, so I started to assume the worst. I think it’s kind of obvious, honestly.”

“I’m sorry!” Eunwoo’s expression turned slightly panicked, “I didn’t know you texted me. I was so busy taking care of mom that I didn’t check my phone the entire morning, and when we left for the hospital, I took it to send you a text only to find out that I didn’t charge it last night. Please forgive me for my stupidity, I didn’t think you’d worry so much.”

The way Eunwoo sounded so anxious was enough to make him snort and muffle a laugh into his hand.

“It’s okay, I forgive you. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Eunwoo calmed down, letting out a breathy chuckle. “Thank god you’re not mad. Anyways, what are you doing here?”

“Health Check-up,” he explained, “I’m waiting to get called since he’s busy with other clients.”

“Ah, alright.”

The two of them fell into easy conversation, talking about whatever came to their minds. It came to them naturally, to talk about anything and everything. Topics changed from small talk, to schoolwork and tests, to friends, to how Minhyuk and Sanha seemed to be even closer than they are. They were soon interrupted by a voice ringing over the intercom.

“291, Moon Bin. 291, Moon Bin.”

Bin started to get up the moment he heard the number. “Sorry, I have to go now Eunwoo. Say hi to your mother if I don’t get out quickly.”

“Okay, Bin.” Eunwoo smiled at him and waved. “I’ll see you, then!”

“Yeah, see you.” Moonbin waved a last time and turned around to rush through the hallway and towards his doctor’s office, looking for the door on the left labelled with the plaque ‘Dr. Mark Evans.’ He knocks on the door, waiting for permission to come in.

“Enter.”

He turns the knob on the door and walks into the room, closing it behind him as he approaches the desk and sits down across from his doctor.

“Good to see you, Mr. Moon Bin,” Dr. Evans greeted.

Moonbin responded with the same, and the appointment went as it always does. His doctor asks him questions about his health recently, if he’s felt ill at all, and performs all the usual check-ups. He’s happy to hear that there’s nothing wrong going on in his body, and is therefore dismissed until next month’s check-up.

He looks back to the place he was sitting at with Eunwoo in the waiting room, frowning when he doesn’t see him. That means they left then, or he was called into his mother’s room for some reason. He assumes the former, and makes his way home for the day.

 

 

Moonbin sighs long and deep when he arrives home and crashes on his bed so hard that the frame started to make creaking noises. He rolled over onto his back and fished his phone out of his rucksack, unlocking it and viewing his notifications and messages.

Two messages from Eunwoo, a new video uploaded by his favourite YouTuber, and a notification from eBay telling him that something he was watching is about to run out of stock.

He checks Eunwoo’s messages first, grinning at the fact that he’s so quick to send him a message about anything that needs to be said.

 

 

 **skyscraper:** Hey Binnie !! How did the checkup go ??

 **skyscraper:** I think you’d be curious about my mother , she’s doing well now . Nothing too serious , just a slight illness she contracted from somebody .

 **Trash Bin™:** hey eunwoo! the checkup went well, everything’s good

 **Trash Bin™:** ah, that’s so good to hear tbh! im glad she’s doing well

 **Trash Bin™:** also if you want to know about the biology classwork, we didn’t do much except that the professor went on a major rant-y lecture about reproduction

 **Trash Bin™:** i was so salty afterwards it was such a waste of time :(((((( i don’t need to listen to shit I already know about

 **skyscraper:** Oh wow

 **skyscraper:** Well thank god I don’t need notes to copy at least I know about that stuff

 **skyscraper:** Anyways, I think both of us should go ahead and get some rest, I’m pretty tired and I’m betting you are too

 **Trash Bin™:** good call, my eyelids are just about drooping

 **skyscraper:** Haha please don’t keep yourself awake !! Go to dreamland Binnie

 **Trash Bin™:** the train is already on its way tbh i might as well go and get on it

 **Trash Bin™:** good night eunwoo ♡

 **skyscraper:** Good night butter-cookie ♡

 **Trash Bin™:** dshkglsdhf bUTTER COOKIE

 

 

Moonbin dropped his phone on his bed and covered his face with his hand, smothering his wide grin. Butter-cookie, how much cuter could Eunwoo get? He felt like screaming his giddiness off but then realized that his neighbours would probably call the police to check what’s going on here.

Instead, he flopped back onto his stomach, reached for a pillow and muffled a few loud squeals. That worked perfectly fine. When he finished screaming, he just laid there, face buried in his pillow and cheeks hurting slightly from smiling.

He thought about taking up Eunwoo’s offer on going to bed now, since he wasn’t lying about barely keeping his eyes open. Groaning, he worked on getting himself up from the bed that he had so quickly gotten glued to, and went to his wardrobe to fetch his pyjamas.

 

 

When he fell into bed again and threw his fluffy white covers over himself, he burrowed and nuzzled into the bed until he felt comfortable and protected in his white cocoon. Closing his eyes, he slipped back into sleep, expecting either a dreamless sleep or a dream wilder than he could ever imagine.

 

* * *

  **4 (Thursday)**

* * *

 

 

His morning went by as usual, getting ready for school with the normal routine. Bathroom, Breakfast, Clothing, Shoes, Glasses. Taking his bag, he locks up and makes his way to school. Nothing unusual happened in his dreams, nor while walking the various streets to get to the academy.

Moonbin sighed, thinking about yesterday and the days before that. It’s incredibly ridiculous, just a few days ago he was too scared to even approach Eunwoo, and now he’s anticipating the next time they’ll talk. And he’s excited about it.

Not that that’s a bad thing, though. He just finds it a little strange how they changed from one thing to another so quickly. From strangers to friends so quickly. He briefly wonders if that would ever turn into something more.

He shakes his head and dismisses the thought. There’s no way Eunwoo likes him, he bets that Eunwoo has fallen for some pretty senior girl, or maybe one of the cute younger girls. But he highly doubts that Eunwoo would ever fall for him.

He rushed through the school gates, arranging stuff in his locker and quickly making his way towards class, even though he was likely much earlier than necessary. Sitting down at his desk, he simply waits for the rest of his classmates and his professor to arrive and for the lesson to begin.

 

 

Usually, English Literature was very fascinating for him, but today he just seemed to have other things invading his thoughts at the wrong time. He tried to think clearly and concentrate on the lesson, reading the paragraph comprehension that they were meant to answer some questions about, but some lines about character description just fit Eunwoo so well he couldn’t help thinking about what the story would look like with him in there somewhere.

He shook his head and tried to ignore those thoughts, somehow managing to concentrate on answering the questions that the professor provided for the class. He finished about 10 minutes later, finally allowing himself to set aside his books and think freely without many interruptions.

He found it so weird how fast he’d fallen for Eunwoo. Was it just his charm, or was it some kind of connection that sparked between them that began this? In a way, answering that question was like cracking a difficult code.

Eunwoo was just so addicting- his smile was the cutest thing ever, and his laugh was even more adorable. It made him want to crack as many terrible jokes as he could just so he could listen to that laugh more.

And his personality was the best one he’d seen in anyone. He’s somewhat shy, somewhat confident, but he’s willing to help and is very polite and kind to other people. He has manners, but he also knows how to have fun.

Not to mention that he is insanely beautiful. Eunwoo might even be more beautiful than most of the girls in the school, but sadly, he doesn’t seem to know it. Moonbin has overheard some girls fawning over him, telling him how good he looks and how they don’t want to stand next to him since he’ll make them look terrible in comparison. He denies the comments every time, saying he’s about average. To Moonbin, that was upsetting. The man was a damn angel for fuck’s sake.

He escaped his gay ass thoughts once he noticed the professor going around, collecting everyone’s tests. He simply nodded when asked if he finished, and allowed for his paper to be taken. He checked his phone discretely to check the time. Five minutes left, so he could wait it out. He sighed, leaning back against his chair and closing his eyes. Why did his head hurt so badly?

He didn’t have to wait long for the period to be over, as after a bit of waiting, he heard the bell ring loudly. He picked up his things and left the room, making his way towards his locker and putting his things away in his bag.

He sighed in relief. Finally, yet another long school day is done and over with. Only tomorrow, and then there is the weekend to look forward to. Now that he thinks about it, he didn’t have any plans for the weekend. Perhaps he could invite Eunwoo to go somewhere…

Finished packing his bag, he took it out of his locker and slung it over his shoulder, closing the locker door and making his way out of the school. He didn’t want to make his way home yet though, since he wanted to get some studying done at his favourite café.

It doesn’t take long at all to walk there, just five minutes away from the school. He pushed open the glass doors, sighing delightfully at the scent of pure caffeine in the café. He walked towards the counter, where a baby-faced barista with brown hair stood, patiently waiting for customers. He eventually recognized it to be Sanha, and grinned at him.

“Good afternoon, Sanha. I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Ah, Bin!” Sanha greeted him with a wide smile, “Good afternoon. What would you like to order?”

“A peppermint hot chocolate, please.” He took his wallet out of his bag, paying the exact amount. He had ordered it many times before, so as a result, he had memorized the price exactly.

“Alright, one P.H.C coming right up in a minute.” Sanha entered his order and took the money, putting it in the register with quick fluidity, giving off the impression that he was already used to his job. “Came here to study, huh?”

“Yeah, didn’t manage to concentrate much during class. Stuff on my mind lately. Hopefully the café’s pleasant atmosphere will allow me to finally focus.”

“I don’t doubt that it will. The café was actually made with the intention that it should be easy to study in. Easy to relax in,” he replied, while multitasking between that and making Bin’s drink. He took notice of the fact that he was the only one behind the counter.

“Are you the only one working right now?” He asked, unable to help curiosity.

“Nah,” he shook his head. “I have another person working a shift with me, but she seems to have skipped her shift today. It’s not that bad anyways, we never have super long lines so I don’t need to stress.”

Moonbin made a face at that. “That’s still incredibly irresponsible of her to do, forcing all the work on you. If she was sick, that would be one thing, but I feel it’s entirely different.”

“Yeah, probably.” Sanha laughed, finishing up his drink and placing it on a plastic tray, along with a muffin on a plate, to which Moonbin stared at in confusion.

“I didn’t order that…?”

“I know,” Sanha smiled. “It’s from me. Enjoy it! Think of it as motivation to study well. In fact, next time you come I might just go ahead and give you a free drink.”

Moonbin grinned. “Thanks, Sanha. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem! Have a good day, Bin.”

“You too!” Moonbin took the tray and started to turn. “See you later, then.”

He grinned. That conversation was truly enjoyable, and unexpected. He didn’t think that Sanha, of all people, would be working at his favourite café. Sanha really isn’t that bad of a person to hang around, he’s pleasant and fun to be around. A mood-maker.

He stopped for a second, looking to see if there are any empty tables at the back of the café, nodding to himself as he saw an empty one way in the corner. And it had couch seats too, so that’s just perfect.

He realized too late what was happening until he heard a yelp and felt some scorching hot liquid cover his arm. Checking to make sure it wasn’t his things that got spilled, he looked down to see a mess of coffee and then looked up to see Eunwoo. A very frantic, apologetic Eunwoo.

“Oh, no, I’m so sorry! Let me make it up to you, you must be so upset about me ruining your shirt!”

Moonbin couldn’t help but laugh at his frantic nature. Eunwoo most likely didn’t even notice who he bumped into yet, only realizing once he heard the laugh and let out the tiniest ‘oh’.

“Binnie, that’s you? Crud, I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you-”

“Holy shit Eunwoo, there’s no need to worry. It’s just a bit of coffee, I didn’t really care about this shirt anyways. And it’s just the arm, if I really want to keep it I can just D-I-Y it on both sides and turn it into a T-shirt.” He managed to stop laughing at the oddity of the situation. He could feel the few people that were in the café staring at them, but he didn’t really care about it.

“Ah, I know, but…” Eunwoo frowned. “I still feel bad.”

“No need. There’s just one little way you can help make it up to me,” Moonbin decided to joke around a bit with him, trying to ease his worries before getting the coffee cleaned up.

“What is it?” Eunwoo asked.

Moonbin grinned at him. “Let me buy you a new coffee, and mop up that coffee that’s on the floor.”

“Bin, no! There’s no need!” Eunwoo’s eyes widened, as he shook his head frantically. “I’ll do both, I’m responsible for the accident.”

Bin, however, didn’t hear it as he was already halfway across the café going to ask Sanha for a mop and a new drink for Eunwoo. Sanha laughed when he saw them come up to the counter, having heard everything.

“You are both absolute disasters.”

“We know, now I need a mop,” Moonbin laughed.

Eunwoo was still trying to convince Moonbin to let him do it instead. Whoops, poor Eunwoo.

 

 

When they finally sat down at a table peacefully, they started talking about why they were there in the café in the first place, as an icebreaker topic. Moonbin had explained that he wasn’t able to concentrate during class, and therefore had to force himself to come here to study to make up for it.

“Oh lord, what on your mind could’ve been so intense that you completely lost focus?” Eunwoo snickered at his misfortune.

Moonbin merely sighed. “It was truly terrible. My mind was stuck on loop about the same thought for hours.”

“And I’m guessing you’re not telling me?”

“Nope. Top secret. Confidential.”

“Damn it.”

“Language, Cha Eunwoo.”

“You’re not my mother, don’t tell me what to do!” Eunwoo laughed, leaning over the table to poke Moonbin’s side, causing him to snort.

“Then am I your father?” Bin asked.

Eunwoo simply spaced out, staring at the same spot on the table for a minute with a blank stare, as if contemplating it. Moonbin waved his hand in front his face, chuckling when he didn’t respond and simply continued to burn holes into the table.

He had to resort to smacking Eunwoo in the face, palm-first, right onto the nose. That got a pleasant reaction out of him; a squeak and some laughing, plus nose-rubbing and an over-dramatic act of pain.

They tried to study, but that plan fell apart half way as they continued to talk about things and make jokes. Not that Moonbin was complaining, he could always study at home. He was just glad that he could share this moment with Eunwoo right now. It was so peaceful and pleasant, he couldn’t help thinking about what could happen to moments like this if he accidentally involved his feelings in this.

He tried his best to hide the involuntary shudder as his thoughts went down the deep end on that thought.

Instead, he brought himself back to reality, and started listening again to what Eunwoo was talking about.

“-And it was the best concert I’ve been to. Well, not like I’ve been to many concerts before, but their music was just amazing! I could really feel the emotions and intentions behind the song, even with the genre. Have you ever listened to them?”

Moonbin wasn’t exactly sure which band he was talking about, but he had to act as though he wasn’t spacing out just now. “Oh yes, their songs are so good! I don’t know much about them, but I have listened to a few songs before.”

“Right? They just get you in a good mood!” Moonbin couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiastic grin on Eunwoo’s face. It wasn’t often that he heard him talk about something so passionately, so he decided to savour the moment and avoid zoning out again.

Eunwoo suddenly stopped talking and started mumbling frantically, looking down at his watch as if to check if he was late for an event. His eyes widened, as he stood up suddenly and started gathering his things.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry Moonbin. I have to get going, I’m going to be late for something. I have to meet with another friend, and I know that they would throw a tantrum if I’m late.”

Moonbin grimaced at the thought. “Yikes, what kind of friend gets mad at a person being late?”

“Apparently them,” Eunwoo snorted. “Anyways, again, I feel terrible that I can’t spend more time with you. I’ll see you later over text?”

“Of course. Go on, I wouldn’t want you to be late.”

“Thank you! See you Binnie.”

He watched him go, staring out of the café’s window at him until he was out of sight. He smiled to himself, thinking about everything that happened today. It was enjoyable. He thought today wouldn’t be very fun, but he thought wrong. It seems that any day with Eunwoo is bright.

He packed his bag, getting up and slinging it over his shoulder, making sure he didn’t leave anything behind before telling Sanha goodbye and making his way out of the café. The next ten minutes were spent walking home, and the next few hours were spent studying and sleeping.

 

* * *

  **5 (Friday)**

* * *

 

In the morning, he woke up in a good mood regardless of how tired he was.

As he got ready for the day, he couldn’t help but go through the events of yesterday in his mind. The events of the last few days, in general.

It has been really life changing, how Eunwoo suddenly came into his life like that. How they started hanging out and laughing and how he got feelings for him so damn quickly. He hadn’t experienced anything like it before. He’d only ever been interested in his studies and his friends’ happiness. He never thought he would be interested in love. But he is, and it makes him want to experience more.

He got out of bed with the hope that today would also make room for Eunwoo in some way.

 

 

When he got to class, he was already being pestered by Minhyuk about something. He wasn’t able to listen. He’s trying to, but the way Minhyuk was talking, he had only understood something about some kind of event.

“Wait, start over again. I don’t understand a thing you’re saying,” Moonbin laughed. His enthusiasm really is great, but he can’t understand if he doesn’t slow down a little.

“Ah, sorry. I was saying, tonight at six there will be a party at the house of some guy in the senior class. He didn’t invite anyone in particular, just announced that anyone who wants to come is able to, no matter the age. You wanna tag along with me and MJ?”

Moonbin took a second to think about it, and weigh the pros and cons of going to a party. Especially one where he doesn’t recognize almost anyone. Well, he might, but still. Is it a good idea?

“Please? I know it might not sound very appealing to you but I want you to come. I promise it will be fun!” Minhyuk urged him. He seemed pretty adamant about him coming, but he doesn’t know. He really doesn’t.

“Ah, um… I need to think about it. I’ll tell you at the end of the day before I go home, alright?” He asked, deciding that by the end of the day he’d have already decided.

Minhyuk sighed, obviously relieved that it isn’t a flat out no, and nodded. “Right. Though keep in mind, I think it’d be a good idea for you to go. You never know what can happen at a party like that.”

“Alright, but the way you’re saying that, it better be something good,” Moonbin snorted. “You’re trying to convince me, not threaten me, remember?”

Minhyuk just rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Yeah, yeah.”

At that moment, the professor entered the room. He started to say something to the class which he didn’t pay attention to, then began the lesson. He figured he could think about it later, he’s got a lesson to pay attention to at the moment.

 

 

 

Moonbin made his decision, he’d go to the party. It couldn’t be that bad, what’s the worst that could happen? He patiently waited at his locker for Minhyuk, who’s supposed to come out of his classroom at any minute now. He needs to get the address for the dude’s house.

While waiting, he tried to visualize what the party would be like. Loud, rambunctious, excitable… now that he thinks about it, it’s a party. Would there be alcohol? Would alcohol even be allowed? He highly doubted it, but they’re all teenagers bound to do stupid stuff. It’s probably a guarantee that somehow someone will sneak in a bottle of vodka or whatever.

“Boo.”

Moonbin let out a yelp and jumped away from the person who snuck up behind him, turning around frantically.

Oh. It’s just Minhyuk.

“Good lord, Rock. Don’t do that to me, I’m an old man on the verge of a heart attack.”

“Sure thing, grandpa.” Minhyuk threw an arm around his shoulder and pulled him towards the school gates, forcing him to start walking. They live in the same direction up until a fork in the road, but they don’t go home together often because Minhyuk has dance club duties most of the week. Today is one of the rare times that he’s free immediately after school.

“Anyways, about the party,” Moonbin started, “I’ve decided on going. It’s at six, right?”

“Yeah, and I need to send you the location too.”

“Right, I was going to ask you about that. I need to know where I’m going, obviously.”

Minhyuk detached himself from Moonbin to take out his phone and look through some stuff on it. He heard a bit of mumbling, and then a victorious ‘aha’. His phone buzzed in his pocket, prompting him to take it out and check.

It’s pretty close to the school, so it would be about the same distance that he walks from home to school but a little closer.

“Alright, thanks Rocky,” he looked at his surroundings and realized they had already walked from school to the spot where they have to go different directions. “Ah, we gotta separate now. I’ll see you at the party then?”

“Yeah, see you there!” Minhyuk waved, turning left and walking at a brisk pace down the street.

Moonbin looked at the time right now, and did the math on how much time he has to get ready. 3:42 pm, so he has about two hours in total if he reaches home within eight minutes since it will take ten minutes to walk from home to the other guy’s house. Alright, so he can spent around an hour relaxing and getting over his school hangover before he starts to get ready.

He nodded to himself and began walking to the right, towards home.

 

 

Moonbin looked at himself in the full-body mirror, content with how he looks. He assumed there was no particular dress code, so he just picked out something that made him look attractive.

A pair of black denim jeans, a black button-up, a pair of white Adidas Superstars and his glasses. He liked how he looked, and he felt pretty confident, so he left the outfit as it was.

He had actually been kind of anxious about going to this party, considering he hadn’t been to one in ages. But it couldn’t be that bad. All things considered, the worst that could happen is that he loses track of where Minhyuk and MJ are. And even then, he could just shoot them a text that he’s going home.

He felt that he was ready for tonight. Turning away from the mirror, he took his phone and keys from his desk, and was out the door and on the street in seconds.

Pulling up the location on his phone on Google Maps, he continued walking down the dimly lit streets, the sky a pink-ish shade due to the late hour. He sighed, following the directions and turning lefts and rights as needed.

He assumed that he should stop for a moment to tell the others that he’s on his way. Whoops. He forgot to do that earlier.

 

 

 **Trash Bin™:** yo losers im on my way

 **Soft Rock:** better be

 **Soft Rock:** i was just thinking about how i’d have your head if u didn’t come

 **Trash Bin™:** lol

 **Happy Virus:** lame asses im already there

 **Soft Rock:** hush mj not everyone can be as early as you

 **Happy Virus:** THAT’S MJ HYUNG FOR YOU

 **Soft Rock:** NOT APPLICABLE OVER TEXT

 **Trash Bin™:** jfc u both are idiots lmao see you guys at the party

 

 

Moonbin snorted at their still ongoing argument. He shook his head, and re-opened his Google Maps app. If he pays attention to their fight, he’s going to get lost.

After a bit more walking, he finally sees the house nearby. From here, he could see open lights and hear loud music, indicating that the party is already wild. He sighed, pocketing his phone and speed-walking the rest of the way, trying to get there as fast as possible.

He enters through the open gates and observes the amount of people there. He sees a group of friends sitting and chatting at the large outdoor table, a couple making out against the wall, three girls laughing about something, and even more people. He feels a slight shiver. If there are this many people outside, how many are there going to be inside?

He groans, walking towards the entrance to the house, walking inside and closing the door behind him. He covers his ears slightly, as the music is way too loud to be good for anyone’s eardrums. Glancing around, he confirms that Minhyuk and MJ are nowhere to be found.

Great. What now? He looks around for anyone else that he might recognize, for the sake of feeling a little safer in a crowd of unknown people, but he doesn’t see anybody. He bites his lip nervously, deciding to go sit at the bar for lack of anything to do.

His hunch from earlier was correct, as he saw different bottles of alcohol lined up, ready for serving. There’s a bartender, taking everyone’s orders and preparing them. He considers ordering a drink himself; everyone else is the same age as him and some of the people here are already wasted. The neighbourhood didn’t seem particularly populated, so there’s less of a risk of the police arriving…

He deemed it alright to drink a bit, and so he raised a hand and called for the bartender, ordering a glass of whiskey. At the first sip, he noticed that it had a surprisingly bitter taste. He made a face, but didn’t back out of finishing his drink.

He felt someone sit down next to him. He didn’t check to see who it was, and didn’t really care. Until they decided to speak.

“I’ll have what he’s having,” Eunwoo said, pointing to the glass of whiskey in Moonbin’s hand.

Oh no. How did he keep bumping into Eunwoo this week? He didn’t really expect to see him at the party tonight. He didn’t mind it, but he still found it incredibly odd.

“Hey Moonbin. Getting drunk?” Eunwoo joked, poking him in the side.

“Ow. And, yeah. I assumed it wouldn’t be that harmful. Low chance of the police arriving, and I didn’t have anywhere to be tomorrow,” he explained.

“Thoughtful as ever,” Eunwoo laughed, taking his drink from the bartender and thanking them. “Anyways, this party’s boring or nah?”

Moonbin thought for a second, observing the other people laughing, dancing, talking, kissing and lots of other stuff. “Eh, I don’t know. It’s fun for them, but I don’t really have anything to do. I don’t know where Minhyuk and MJ went.”

“Hm…”

They didn’t really say anything after that, both of them just taking sips of their drinks. Eunwoo seemed lost in thought, until he snapped his head up and looked at Moonbin with a smile.

“Then how about we play a drinking game?”

“A drinking game?” Moonbin frowned. He’d never played one before, he doesn’t know if he’d survive. Curiosity got the better of him, however. “Sure, which one?”

“Would you rather, but with an alcoholic twist. One of us asks the other a question, and if the other answers within five seconds, the person who asked the question takes a sip. However, if the other person refuses to answer, they take a sip. Whoever gets drunk faster, loses.”

Moonbin already knew he was going to lose. He doesn’t know why he agreed to this. Oh well, no backing out now. It didn’t sound that bad.

“Alright, bring it.”

Eunwoo smirked, causing his mind to blank. Oh no, that smirk did things to him. He tried to calm his raging heart as he focused back on what Eunwoo was saying.

“I’ll start. Would you rather suck on a dirty toe or smell dirty socks for an entire day?”

Moonbin scrunched up his face in disgust, only serving to make Eunwoo bark out a laugh at his misfortune. “Smell dirty socks for a day, fuck the dirty toe.”

“Oh man,” Eunwoo snorted, trying to calm his laughing fit. “I didn’t think you’d even choose between one or the other.”

“Both are gross, but I didn’t want to drink.”

“Alright, it’s your turn. Give me your best.”

Moonbin pursed his lips, thinking about how to stump Eunwoo. Should he go for a gross approach like he did, or go for something so inappropriate that he can’t comprehend it? Ooh, now that sounded good.

“Would you rather watch your two oldest, grossest teachers of all time in a porno, or your grandparents?”

Eunwoo froze, staring off into space, as if trying to register what Moonbin just asked him. And then he snorted, laughing for a good minute until he started to tear up. His laughter was so infectious, Moonbin couldn’t help laughing too.

“Yikes, both are terrible. I didn’t know you had it in you, Binnie.” Eunwoo took his glass of whiskey and took a large sip. “That’s going to go unanswered, since it’s hard to decide on something like that.”

Moonbin did a little victory dance as he successfully stumped Eunwoo. Hell yes. This might even be a little fun. The next few rounds passed seamlessly, until the both of them had ordered for refills about two to three times and they were both drunk off of their asses.

“Alright,” Moonbin began, slurring his words a bit. “Would you rather have a piss fetish or a shit fetish?”

“Piss fetish!” Eunwoo chuckled. “Honestly, who would choose shit fetish?”

“Hmm…” Moonbin spun around in his chair, looking around the room until his eyes landed on a girl in the far corner of the room, drunk as well. He pointed her out to Eunwoo. “How much do you bet that she would be into that?”

“Nah, she looks more like the daddy kink type,” Eunwoo suggested. “Betting my ass on that.”

Moonbin laughed, clutching onto Eunwoo’s knee for support. “Why would you bet your ass on that?”

“I don’t know, first thing that came to mind.” Eunwoo stood up, grabbing the edge of the table so as to not collapse. “What do you say we stop playing for now and go sit at the swimming pool? We’re drunk enough right now.”

Moonbin nodded, holding out his hands to Eunwoo. He pulled him up, but didn’t let go of his hand, not even when they reached the swimming pool. He even intertwined their fingers together. Moonbin didn’t mind.

Eunwoo sat down, toeing off his shoes before shimmying closer to the swimming pool, close enough to dip his toes into the cold water. Moonbin saw him flinch for a moment, before easing his feet into the water. He decided to do the same, taking off his shoes and pushing them to the side with Eunwoo’s shoes.

The water was cold. Refreshing, but cold. With the cold, came a shiver that traveled up his body and could be felt in his spine. It wasn’t anything too terrible. When the shivers left, they were replaced with a weight on his shoulder, the slight brush of black hair against his nape, and the scent of something vaguely floral.

“Do you mind me doing this?” Eunwoo mumbled quietly, nuzzling into his shoulder. He felt his heart flutter. If his mind wasn’t malfunctioning before, it was now.

“Ah, no, it-it’s fine.” Moonbin mentally cursed at himself for stumbling on his words.

They eased into a conversation where they just talked about whatever came to mind. Eunwoo had removed his head from its place on Moonbin’s shoulder sometime during their conversation, he wasn’t sure when.

He didn’t want to admit that he felt the biggest urge to extend his arm and let Eunwoo lean on him again. He almost did, in his drunken haze. He still stopped himself, though. Even though they were both drunk, he wasn’t sure if Eunwoo would mind or not. He didn’t want to take chances.

The topic was currently about Harry Potter, and Moonbin would be totally fucking lying if he said he didn’t love Harry Potter. He was obsessed with the series, and is not afraid to talk about it. The fact that he’s going on a huge rant about the Deathly Hallows might be an indication of that.

“-And fuck, that one scene where Harry was playing dead while Voldemort spread all of that ‘Harry Potter is dead’ stuff? I was on the edge of my ass just wondering what Harry was going to attempt. And the part where Neville chopped up Nagini? At that moment, I knew exactly why Neville had been my favourite character since book one. Don’t you agree?”

Eunwoo didn’t give any response. He was just staring at… What exactly is he staring at? “Eunwoo? Are you there?”

“Can I kiss you?” Eunwoo blurted.

Moonbin froze, at that moment realizing just why Eunwoo was spacing out. He had been staring at his lips while he was ranting. He hadn’t noticed that he didn’t give a response until Eunwoo placed a hand on his knee, making that spot feel infinitely hotter.

He felt his face become the same temperature, dumbly nodding instead of saying anything. He smacked himself, mentally. Very fucking eloquent, Bin. Very eloquent. Words. What are words? He had none.

Gulping, he shut his eyes tightly as he felt Eunwoo lean closer, the pressure on his knee becoming more pronounced as he leaned in, the floral scent becoming more apparent as well. Time felt like it slowed for a long time until he felt something soft and plush and _warm_ on his lips.

Moonbin sighed happily into the kiss, finally relaxing as their breath mingled together and Eunwoo’s hand moved from his knee to his shoulder. Moonbin’s fingers ended up curling into Eunwoo’s hair, pulling and he felt himself _shiver_ when Eunwoo moaned into the kiss.

It all ended way too soon, way too quickly for it to be acceptable. As soon as Eunwoo pulled away, he went in for more, as if his lips were a drug he couldn’t stop abusing. An addiction he couldn’t drop. Their kisses went from soft and inexperienced to rough and needy, although still inexperienced since their teeth kept awkwardly clanking together and their noses bumping into each other. But it felt good.

They had been so immersed that Moonbin almost didn’t hear the whistles from the other side of the pool. They didn’t pay attention to it, not even when they pulled away and fell into each other’s arms. Moonbin nuzzled his head further into Eunwoo’s shoulder, closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep.

 

* * *

  **AFTER THE PARTY (Saturday)**

* * *

 

When the next day came, Moonbin found himself back in his bed, curled up in the covers and had an unwanted guest. That guest being his pounding, painful hangover headache and the urge to puke.

He flung his legs over the side of his bed, getting up and running quickly to the bathroom, practically falling onto the floor as he leaned over the toilet bowl and threw up his entire right lung. When he managed to stop, he groaned at the burning pain in his throat.

How did he even get so drunk last night? He promised himself a few drinks… Oh right, Eunwoo came along. And they played a drinking game. And then they-

Wait, what did they do afterwards? Fuck, he _was_ super drunk. Sighing, he tried to get himself back on his feet unsteadily, gripping the toilet seat and flushing the now discoloured toilet water. He needed to get a painkiller and then check for any messages. He needs to ask Minhyuk where he had been all night too.

He clutched his head, shutting his eyes in pain and waiting for the pounding in his head to stop before he made his way to the medicine cabinet, taking out a pill and putting the box back into the cabinet, stumbling to the kitchen to get a class of water then downing it.

When he got back to his bedroom to check his messages, he paled. A few messages from the friend group chat, some messages from Eunwoo, but mostly messages from Minhyuk which included a video.

Fuck. Now he’s scared to open the messages, but he does it anyway with a heavy sigh. He checked the messages from Minhyuk first, just to get all of that out of the way.

 

 

 **Soft Rock:** man i didn’t know u could get so fuckin wild when drunk lmao

 **Soft Rock:** but srsly I thought u might wanna see what Sanha and I caught on vid last night

 **Soft Rock:** send the vid to Eunwoo too good luck talking about it man

 **Soft Rock:** _Video Sent._

Moonbin hesitated. Good luck talking about it? That doesn’t sound good. Wait, no shit it doesn’t sound good. He frantically pressed the button on the video and turned the volume up a bit so he could hear.

 

 

_“Damn, they’re really going at it,” Sanha said, snorting. The camera was focused on two guys, desperately making out and clutching at each other wherever they could reach. The two people being Moonbin and Eunwoo._

_Minhyuk whistled from beside Sanha. “Is that tongue I see?”_

_No one else seemed to be paying attention to the two guys, since the rest of the partygoers were either too drunk to function, making out, fucking, or asleep. In a flash, they went from making out to cuddling against each other in just a few seconds._

_Minhyuk grinned at the display, unashamed by the unmanly squeal he made. “Look at them. That’s what a married couple looks like.”_

_“God, Rocky. You’re unbearable,” Sanha snorted. “Let’s stop recording for now, and wake them in half an hour. Remember, you forced me to drive you all back home. I have a bedtime too.”_

_“Yes, yes, mister.”_

 

 

Oh no. So basically, they kissed and cuddled in front of the pool, and the biggest demons he knew had got it all recorded. Shit on a pig head on a stick up his ass. Speaking of the stick up his ass, he’s planning on taking it out and putting it up Minhyuk’s ass on Monday whenever he sees him.

Okay, maybe not the same stick. He’s gonna find a new one. But, he’s going to send the video to Eunwoo as requested, and if the reaction is negative then he’s gonna have hell to pay. Even though, judging by the video, Eunwoo seemed to have started up the whole thing.

He frowned, lost in thought. If Eunwoo did initiate the kiss, would that mean he actually felt that way for real? I mean, when you’re drunk you have a higher chance of spilling the truth, but…

Moonbin couldn’t help but doubt it. Mumbling curses to himself, he closed the chat between him and Minhyuk after sending out a mini rant about how he’s gonna fuck it up before opening the one with Eunwoo. Oh, right, he had messages from Eunwoo

 

 

 **skyscraper:** Binnie

 **skyscraper:** Binnie

 **skyscraper:** What happened last night ??? I don’t remember a thing

 **Trash Bin™:** well uh I didn’t either until rock sent me this

 **Trash Bin™:** idk if u will be pleased to see it but um pls tell me honestly what you think of this entire thing

 **Trash Bin™:** _Video Sent._

 

 

He stared at his phone, noticing that Eunwoo came online once he sent the message and had read them all. His heart fell down to the pits of his stomach, even though he didn’t get a reply yet. He figured he was watching the video.

In the meantime, he decided to scroll down the messages in the group chat.

 

 

 **Soft Rock:** yo MJ where were you at the entire night

 **Soft Rock:** wait don’t tell me u got down n dirty with someone

 **Happy Virus:** rocky no

 **Soft Rock:** gaaaaaaasp can I be the best man

 **Happy Virus:** ya i got led away but it wasn’t in that way I had to comfort this lightweight girl who was sobbing about her dead goldfish

 **Happy Virus:** I found out afterwards from her sister she doesn’t even have a goldfish

 **Happy Virus:** she had a dream about having a goldfish and that it died

 **Soft Rock:** I don’t feel bad for laughing you’ve got it bad

 **Happy Virus:** im sure

 **Soft Rock:** but u gotta admit someone got vvv fortunate tonight

 **Happy Virus:** who who who who who

 **Soft Rock:** fuckin owl lol its bin

 **Happy Virus:** :0000000000000000000000

 **Soft Rock:** me 2

 

 

When the phone vibrated with a message from Eunwoo, Moonbin had jumped so hard at an angle that he hit his ass on the edge of his bed and spent the next minute clutching his buttcheek on the floor. Thanks, life. Maybe it was the black cat he saw out of his window when he woke up. Fuck.

Finally having regained his composure and succeeded in getting rid of the butt pain, he grabbed his phone and viewed the reply from Eunwoo.

 

 

 **skyscraper:** Oh . Oh , I didn’t expect that .

 **skyscraper:** It looks like I started it ?? I really hope you didn’t mind omfghsdklf

 **Trash Bin™:** idk lol let me ask my drunk self how turned on he was on a scale of 1 to boner

 **skyscraper:** Binnie please lmao

 **skyscraper:** But seriously I don’t really feel that bad about it , it’s not going to change anything about our friendship . And I don’t know if u like me or not , but we could both kinda like

 **skyscraper:** Try to say honestly what the other thinks of each other ?? No awkwardness , just to understand the other’s emotions more

 **Trash Bin™:** yeah, that’s a good idea

 **Trash Bin™:** ill say it upright bc if I resist any more im gonna fucking pussy out, ive been head over heels for you since the first day I saw u

 

 

Moonbin waited for Eunwoo to give him a reply, but he didn’t get anything. He waited, staring at his phone, worried that he might’ve weirded him out. Oh no, he did, didn’t he?

After a whole minute of waiting, his phone began ringing.

 

 

**_skyscraper is calling_ **

 

 

He picked it up immediately, frowning. “Yeah?” He asked, a note of hesitation in his voice.

 

“I like you too, have found you absolutely breathtaking ever since I bumped into you that first day,” was all that Eunwoo said before hanging up abruptly. Moonbin almost dropped his phone in shock, but scrambled quickly to get his composure back and send a text to continue their conversation.

 

 

 **Trash Bin™:** fdshgkhdsl

 **Trash Bin™:** fdshglkhsdflhsdf I THOUGHT YOU THOUGHT THAT I LOOKED WEIRD WHEN I BUMPED INTO YOU I WAS SO SHOOK

 **Trash Bin™:** DATE PLS?? YES?? MAYBE??

 **skyscraper:** YES OF COURSE

 **Trash Bin™:** :000

 **skyscraper:** Does the café where my coffee got us both wet sound like a good idea ?

 **skyscraper:** wait no taht sound s wrOGN

 **Trash Bin™:** pFFFFFFFFFFF

 **Trash Bin™:** dw its a good idea I thought of going there too

 **skyscraper:** Perfect !! Tomorrow at 5:30 ? I’m free any time after five actually

 **Trash Bin™:** yeah 5:30 is good for me too

 **skyscraper:** aaaaa I can’t wait . See you tomorrow love !!

 

 

Moonbin didn’t realize he had been smiling at his phone like an idiot for two whole minutes after the conversation ended. He must be dreaming, that alcohol definitely did something to him. He pinched himself, flinching a bit at the sting. Nope, that’s real then. Shit. What did he do to deserve something so amazing?

God, he just now notices how in love he is. If someone else saw him, they’d think he’s absolutely gross. He snorted at the thought, moving to lie down in the bed and then proceeded to scroll through his and Eunwoo’s messages from the beginning, reminiscing on the various things that they did this week, and wondering if he accidentally saw a four leaf clover and didn’t realize.

  

* * *

  **+1 (Sunday)**

* * *

 

Moonbin felt like he was suffocating in a joyful way. He nervously adjusted his hair as he looked in the mirror, having second thoughts on whether he looked date-appropriate or not.

He likely did, with the white button up shirt and the black dress pants. He didn't wear sneakers for once either, so that's hopefully a bonus. At first, he put on a black bow-tie for accessory and then took it off after realizing it might look like it's too much. 

He sighed deeply, shoving his hands into his pockets to stop them from fidgeting with his hair. He looked at himself in the mirror. No problems, you look absolutely great, he'll love it. Inhale five seconds, exhale seven.

Taking his phone and wallet from his desk, he pocketed them and grabbed the keys from the coffee table to get out and lock up. No turning back now, he needs to leave or else he'll be late. Locking the door, he turns around and begins walking towards the café.

It's a wonderful day outside, pretty blue skies and fluffy white clouds, birds chirping and people chatting. It was not noisy, but the streets still seemed relatively alive. He smiled to himself. Days like these tended to promise good luck to him, so he hoped that turns out the same way today too.

After all, what is there to be afraid of? Eunwoo himself had admitted to liking him back. And his tone didn't seem particularly suspicious either, so he had got no choice but to admit that he was telling the truth about his feelings.

He held his head high and walked into the café, pushing the doors open. He looked around for a moment to see if Eunwoo had arrived before him or not, and unsurprisingly, he saw him sitting cross-legged and staring at something on his phone at a table not too far away.

Walking there quickly, he grinned and took his place on the chair across Eunwoo. "Moonbin, at your service. What would you like to order, monsieur?"

Eunwoo looked up from his phone with raised eyebrows. He obviously hadn't heard him coming. Eunwoo smiled back and locked his phone, placing it on the table. "Well," he began, placing his hands on the table with fingers intertwined. "Perhaps an earl grey tea, and a side of your love too."

Moonbin couldn't smother the snort that escaped him. "God, that was cheesy."

"You love it."

"Not wrong." Moonbin chuckled and stood up, taking out his wallet. "I will go order for us. Earl grey, right?"

"Yes, but..." Eunwoo hesitated, then laughed. "I don't want you to pay for my drink."

"Hush, I will." Moonbin turned around and speed-walked right to the counter before Eunwoo could insist otherwise any longer. He smiled at Sanha, who was behind the counter again.

"Why, who do we have here? On a date, maybe?" Sanha inquired, his teasing tone very unsubtle. Moonbin reached over the counter and jabbed his sides, causing him to yelp.

"Maybe. And maybe I would also like to order some drinks. An earl grey tea, a white hot chocolate and two croque monsieurs."

He watched Sanha input his order and nodded when he repeated it. "It will be ready within five minutes, Bin-hyung."

"Alright, thanks a lot Sanha." He was truly thankful to him, the guy had seen them both have an awkward moment the last time they were had both been at the café, and now he's seeing them on a date. And he didn't ask any questions, which he had expected more of, honestly.

"No problem. Good luck." Sanha sent him a wink that he almost didn't catch. Moonbin rolled his eyes, leaning on the counter as he waited for his order to finish. He turned around to glance at Eunwoo, who smiled at him.

He grinned. Man, he still couldn't really believe his luck. Every time he tries to find logic in the past week and how it could have even been real, he fails. But it's not important anyways, he has all he needs and that's all that matters. No real need to question it. if he got it, there must have been a reason for it.

He looked up when a tray was set in front of him, and Sanha poked his arm to get his attention. "Two croque monsieurs, an earl grey and a white hot chocolate. Go get him."

Moonbin couldn't help but laugh, walking back to his and Eunwoo's table and setting the tray onto it. He looked at Eunwoo's face, revelling in the surprised expression he had made at the fact that he ordered food.

"How did you know I love these?" Eunwoo asked, looking up at him. He laughed, pulling his chair back and sitting down in it, getting comfortable.

"Lucky guess. I like these, and they had them today so I figured it would be a safe bet that you'd like them too." He took one of the plates and set it in front of Eunwoo, doing the same with his mug of earl grey tea. He took his own food and drink off of the tray too, then ran back to the counter to give the tray back to Sanha.

When he sat back down, he immediately started with the food, taking a bite and almost shedding a tear with how good it tasted. "I hadn't had one of these in forever, so I might just cry right now. These are my second favourite thing in the whole damn world."

Eunwoo laughed, "What's your favourite thing then, if this is your second favourite?"

"You, of course."

Eunwoo flushed to the tips of his ears, and Moonbin couldn't help but snort. He leaned over and started acting dramatically. "Aren't I your favourite too? No? Oh, how heartbroken am I!"

He thought he heard music start playing, but it had actually just been Eunwoo laughing at his pose, hand over his heart and the other raised in the air. The laughter was contagious, and Moonbin started laughing too.

They continued eating, chatting about random topics between bites. Moonbin thought of the perfect flirting tactic mid-bite, so he tried to hide his smile and finished chewing, staring at Eunwoo's cheek and waiting for him to notice.

"Ah," Eunwoo looked at him, confused. "Is there anything on my face?"

"In fact, yes." He watched Eunwoo grimace and touch his cheek, trying to feel which area he got food on. "Ah, wait, let me get it for you."

He leaned over the table, getting ready with his thumb over the corner of Eunwoo's lips. "It's right... here." He took his thumb away and kissed that spot instead, just short of kissing him on the lips, laughing when he saw Eunwoo's breath hitch and his cheeks redden again.

"That **-** " Eunwoo started, trying to regain his composure. "That was smooth."

"I know," Moonbin grinned. "I couldn't help it. You looked so kissable, but I didn't want to catch you off guard that much."

Eunwoo flushed and scratched his cheek, obviously a nervous tick. "Really?"

"Really."

Another few moments passed as they finished their food, and took silent sips of their drinks. Moonbin decided to bring up the topic they had been holding off for a while. They needed to talk about it sooner or later.

"Ah, uhm," He started hesitantly, causing Eunwoo to look up and raise his eyebrows in curiosity. "I assume we're meant to talk about... us? And what happened the other day. Like, I know you said that you like me, and I said that I like you, but I'm not sure if that makes us boyfriends."

Moonbin coughed when he realized he had been rambling, which made Eunwoo let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I do suppose we should talk about that. Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of dating. I only wonder if you're fine with it."

"Yes," Moonbin blurted much too quickly, flushing a deep cherry once he realized his mistake. That blunder made Eunwoo burst out laughing. Whoops. "I-I mean, I'm fine with it."

The way Eunwoo looked at him when he said that was just so intense. He could see the fondness in his eyes, and he could've smacked himself right then and there when he realized he'd missed every one of those looks Eunwoo gave him beforehand. He saw him glancing at him with some unreadable expression often, but he never really knew what it was.

Now he understood. Eunwoo really hadn't been lying when he said he liked him back. The thought made him look down at his hot chocolate and smile.

"What are you smiling at?" Eunwoo asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Moonbin took a sip of his hot chocolate, feeling the burn on his tongue, before continuing.

"I'm just thinking about that look you gave me just now. You looked so in love, and only now am I realizing that I'm stupid for not seeing it before. I somehow even doubted it," Moonbin snorted.

Eunwoo looked surprised. "I didn't even know I had such a look on my face. Oh no," he moaned, covering his face. "I'm more transparent than I thought."

Moonbin could only laugh at that. "You might be transparent, but I'm just dumb. I somehow didn't even realize what the look meant, when it was the most obvious thing ever."

They spent a minute laughing at themselves. Eunwoo cleared his throat after the giggling died down, and spoke.

"Well, all of that is behind us. Moonbin, love, would you be my boyfriend for real?" He asked, grinning and leaning over the table, extending a hand palm-up as if to ask for his.

He smiled. "Yeah, yeah I would." He moved Eunwoo's hand so that he could intertwine his fingers between Eunwoo's. Moonbin made sure to stare at Eunwoo for long enough to ingrain his wide smile into his memory forever. He wanted to treasure it until the day that he couldn't, and he'll make sure that he will.

"Hey, did you finish your drink?" Moonbin asked, getting an idea.

Eunwoo nodded, and tilted his head in confusion. "Why do you ask?"

Moonbin grinned and stood up, prompting Eunwoo to stand up too. "We paid already, so we can leave. I have an idea of where we can go right now as a post-date activity."

He took out his wallet and left a decent tip on the table as thanks to Sanha for putting up with them the entire time, and grabbed Eunwoo's hand, walking out of the café and making his way to his apartment.

"Where are we going?" Eunwoo asked, interest displayed all over his face.

Moonbin just smirked. "You'll see."

When they arrived a short time later, Moonbin quickly unlocked the door, closed it behind him with his foot and locked it in record time, pulling Eunwoo to his bedroom and sitting down at the foot of the bed beside him, holding his hand and looking straight into the other's eyes. 

"Can I kiss you again?"

The surprised laugh that burst from Eunwoo's lips was truly the best piece of music he'd ever heard. Beethoven's got nothing on Cha Eunwoo. He nodded and Moonbin smiled the widest he'd ever smiled, tackling Eunwoo and going straight for the target.

The entire experience was better now that they were both sober **-** he truly felt everything much more vividly now, that is **-** and it all made him breathless so quickly. The velvety softness of Eunwoo's lips, the light floral scent, the awkward bumping of noses, the small involuntary moans and noises they made against each other's lips.

It all made Moonbin want more and more, but they had to pull away eventually. Moonbin pulled away first, gasping for air. He let out small huffs and puffs, leaning against Eunwoo's chest and feeling the sharp rise and fall of his breaths and the speedy heartbeat.

It all felt so surreal, but at the same time he knew it couldn't be more real than this. Easily the best thing that had ever happened to him, he had to admit. 

The realization hit him suddenly. he loved Eunwoo more than anyone else. Well, except for maybe his parents. But even then, the love he felt for Eunwoo in that moment was so overwhelming he himself felt shocked. He nuzzled his head into Eunwoo's chest, smiling.

"I love you, Eunwoo."

"Call me Dongmin. And I love you too." Eunwoo leaned down to press a kiss to the top of his head. Moonbin raised an eyebrow.

"Dongmin?"

"Ah, yeah. I never got to tell you, but Eunwoo is just a nickname that I prefer to be called by people. I only let people who are super close to me call me Dongmin."

Moonbin grinned. "I guess I have that privilege now?"

"You do indeed. And you deserve it, if I do say so myself."

"Well then, I'll start over. I love you, Dongmin." He leaned up to press a kiss to his neck, since he couldn't reach his lips again. That only caused Dongmin to squirm and muffle his laughter.

"Ah- hey, stop! I'll take away your Dongmin privilege!" He poked Moonbin's sides, which made him straight up **-** I shit you not **-** giggle.

"Noo! Whatever shall I do if I don't have my Dongmin privilege?"

They joked around for the next few hours, having fun and enjoying the feeling of being in each other's arms, and being in love. Later on Instagram, he posted a selfie of both of them lying down next to each other, Dongmin kissing Moonbin's cheek and the latter making a funny expression.

Needless to say, their school friends blew up the post with comments.

He truly couldn't be happier than this, Moonbin thought, as he felt Eunwoo's hand in his and the general presence of a person next to him, and considered yet again what the odds had to have been to get him this lucky.

He would treasure it forever, to the Andromeda Galaxy and back.

**Author's Note:**

> God, this was such a wild ride, let me tell you. It took me 4-5 weeks to write this monster, and damn it if I'm not proud of it. The longest work I've written before is around 3000 words, which is not even close to how long this work is.
> 
> But if I'll be honest, I've never written Moonbin and Eunwoo before, so this might be very out of character. I wrote this with the idea of a certain personality for both, and kind of went with it. I hope you don't mind the extra snark on Moonbin lmao
> 
> But yes !! The amazing person I wrote this for !! I really hope you liked how this ended up. I'm so terribly sorry you had to wait for this long, I'm the worst person when it comes to procrastination and also just being forgetful. I also went through a small case of writers block in the middle of this which took me 2-3 days to get over.
> 
> But all in all, I think it's good. It's not beta'd, so if there's any mistakes, tell me in the comments and I'll fix them asap! Criticism is appreciated, but constructive only please. My self-esteem is already 10% as it is whoops-
> 
> Anyways, thank you so much for reading !! (insert hearts here I'm too lazy to fetch an emoji)


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